War of the Worlds: Part 1
War of the Worlds: Part 1 is the twenty-fifth episode of Ben 10: Alien Force. Plot The Highbreed fleet appears in the skies above Galvan Prime, having shut down their planetary defenses. Azmuth, looking on from his tower, is visited by Paradox, and laments the defeat of the Galvan, noting that without them, the rest of the galaxy stands no chance against the Highbreed. Paradox disagrees and suggests that the Omnitrix could give the universe a fighting chance, and insists that Azmuth come with him to Earth. A Highbreed ship fires at Azmuth’s tower, and Paradox teleports them both away just as it is destroyed. On Earth, Ben is practicing soccer with his team when Paradox and Azmuth appear to retrieve him. They meet up with Gwen and Kevin at Mr. Smoothy and go over the imminent Highbreed plan to use the Hyperspace Jump Gate to transport their fleet to Earth. The team resolves to destroy the Jump Gate as quickly as possible, and Ben decides that they ought to call in the help of the other Plumber’s kids whom they have aided in the past. Azmuth asks that Gwen and Kevin be responsible for their retrieval, as he wants a word with Ben. Gwen and Kevin visit Alan Albright and recruit his aid as he is capturing a DNAlien, then meet Cooper Daniels at his lab and ask him to join forces with them as well. Cooper dons robotic armor and agrees to do whatever he can to help. The team then travels to the Plumber base at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota and release Michael Morningstar from the Null Void. They make a deal to release Michael on the condition that he help them stop the invasion; when Michael asks why Kevin would trust him, Kevin points out that if Michael doesn’t help stop the invasion, he won’t survive either when the Highbreed destroy the Earth. Meanwhile, at Mr. Smoothy, Azmuth reveals that he has withheld information about the Omnitrix’s true purpose from Ben. He explains that the Omnitrix contains DNA samples from over one million sentient life forms in the Milky Way Galaxy, including humanity, and that if any of these species were to be destroyed by the Highbreed, the Omnitrix could restore them to life a la Noah’s Ark. However, if the Omnitrix is destroyed, then there is no hope of restoring any species destroyed by the Highbreed. Azmuth insists that Ben not participate in the final battle due to this risk, but Ben refuses, and threatens to fight Azmuth if he attempts to take the Omnitrix from Ben. Realizing Ben will not yield, Azmuth reluctantly activates the Omnitrix’s Master Control, granting Ben access to every alien. Gwen and Kevin then arrive along with Alan, Cooper, Darkstar, and Julie, who brings Ship with her to fight in his battleship form. The team makes their way to Los Soledad and enters the cloaking field. Ben transforms into Cannonbolt, and they fight their way through hundreds of DNAliens in an attempt to reach and destroy the Jump Gate. Michael is injured during the battle and attempts to drain the life force of numerous DNAliens. Ben stops him and then uses the Omnitrix to revert the DNAliens to their human forms; however, this depletes the Omnitrix’s power, leaving Ben vulnerable. After seeing the Omnitrix’s genetic damage repair at work, Cooper transforms his robot suit into several DNA repair guns, which can instantly turn DNAliens back into humans. With the DNA repair guns in hand, Ben and the team continue the fight, making their way to the Jump Gate. Once they reach it, they attempt to destroy it but cause no damage. Ben transforms into Way Big and attempts to pull the Jump Gate out of the ground, but before he can finish, the Gate activates and Ben is severely injured, transforming back into his human form just as the Highbreed fleet arrives on Earth. Noteworthy Events Major Events *It is revealed that the Omnitrix contains DNA samples from every alien in the Milky Way galaxy. The number of aliens is revealed to be 1,000,903 (not 10,000 as previously thought by Ben). *Ben regains access to the Omnitrix's Master Control function. *Ben rounds up Darkstar, Azmuth, Alan, Cooper, and Paradox to fight the Highbreed. *Galvan Prime is destroyed. *Ben re-unlocks Cannonbolt, Way Big and Wildmutt (off-screenDwayne McDuffie). *Murk Upchuck is unlocked. *The Highbreed begin their invasion of Earth. Character Debuts *Highbreed Commander Omnitrix Alien Debuts *Cannonbolt (Alien Force debut) *Murk Upchuck *Way Big Minor Events *Kevin's full name is revealed to be Kevin Ethan Levin. Characters *Ben Tennyson *Gwen Tennyson *Kevin Levin *Julie Yamamoto *Azmuth *Cooper Daniels *Alan Albright *Professor Paradox *Darkstar *Ship Villains *Highbreed *DNAliens *Highbreed Commander (first appearance) Aliens Used *Cannonbolt (first re-appearance) *Jetray *Swampfire *Murk Upchuck (first appearance) *Way Big (first re-appearance) Quotes Naming and Translations Allusions *The opening and Azmuth's tower being destroyed is a loose reference to Roland Emmerich's 1996 blockbuster movie Independence Day. *The title is a reference to the 1898 novel by H. G. Wells. Trivia *There were no female Galvan or children in the crowd at the beginning because the females were at home/work and the children were at school. References Category:Episodes Category:Ben 10: Alien Force Episodes Category:Ben 10: Alien Force Season Two Episodes Category:Two Part Episode Category:Highbreed Arc Category:Episodes Written by Dwayne McDuffie Category:Episodes Directed by Dan Riba